router

Reach Router is a tool that helps React developers build web apps where users can navigate between different pages or sections without reloading the entire site. Think of it like a map inside your app—when someone clicks a link, the router figures out which part of your app to show and handles all the behind-the-scenes work to make that happen smoothly.

Most React apps need a way to handle navigation. Without Reach Router, you'd have to manually track which page you're on and manage what content appears when. This gets messy quickly as your app grows. Reach Router automates that process: you tell it what URLs your app supports and which components should appear at each URL, and it takes care of the rest. When a user types in a new URL or clicks a link, the router instantly switches what's displayed without requiring a full page refresh.

The router is designed with web accessibility in mind—meaning it works well for people using screen readers or keyboard navigation, not just mouse clicks. The README doesn't go into extensive detail about specific features, but it's marketed as a "next generation" approach, suggesting it improves on earlier routing solutions.

You'd use Reach Router if you're building any React app that has multiple pages or views: a blog, a dashboard, an e-commerce site, or pretty much any app where users move between different sections. It saves you from having to write your own navigation logic from scratch. The project has been maintained and used by enough teams that it's published on npm, the standard package repository for JavaScript projects, making it easy to add to your codebase.